Friday, January 15, 2010

What Media Media: Adam Smith Lets Bilirakis Spread Gitmo B.S.

Gus Bilirakis: The conditions are unbelievable. Too good, as far as I am concerned. Flat screen TVs. They have a choice of seven meals... these terrorists. They play sports. If they are on good behavior they can be outside 20-hours-a-day. It's unbelievable.

It really is unbelievable. It is so unbelievable that I'm laughing. Detainees are outside "20 hours-a-day." If they are sleeping in makeshift tents I can believe that. Florida prisons have been known to house prisoners outdoors because of lack of space. There is no way military guards will just let detainees randomly roam the facility.

I can buy the TVs under Obama. State and federal prisons have televisions. The Hillsborough County Jail only allows prisoners to watch PBS. Occasionally, a guard will break the rules because he wants to watch a football game. The guard will tell the prisoners not to tell a soul. I know this because I have some interesting friends. Amnesty International reported Gitmo prisoners were put in isolation during the Bush years. Detainees then did not have the option of watching television. Conditions were so bad detainees were using a bucket for a toilet.

Detainees are confined for 22 hours a day to individual, enclosed, steel cells where they are almost completely cut off from human contact. The cells have no windows to the outside or access to natural light or fresh air. No activities are provided, and detainees are subjected to 24 hour lighting and constant observation by guards through the narrow windows in the cell doors. They exercise alone in a high-walled yard where little sunlight filters through; detainees are often only offered exercise at night and may not see daylight for days at a time.

What is really sad is Adam Smith actually agreeing with Bilirakis's fantasy assessment. So much for a tough follow up question.

Adam Smith: Maybe they be in worst conditions then a cold federal prision in Illinois.

Journalists like Smith is why I laugh when Republicans whine about the so-called liberal media. Conservatives have their own media to cover the Tea Party Convention. Republicans have talk radio and their own cable news network. It is shameful when Smith doesn't do his job as a journalist. Smith is more interested in gaining access to politicians than asking than setting the record straight.